It’s no question that the 2014 Camaro Z/28 is an extremely fine-tuned, track-loving rocket of a car, but now we have some first-hand driving impressions from Autoblog’s Mike Harley as he laps the car around Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

The first point Harley brings up is how good the ZL1 felt when he drove it and how he had really high expectations for the Camaro Z/28 – those expectations were quickly exceeded when he tossed the car around the track a few times. The power delivery from the naturally-aspirated LS7 is one of Harley’s favorite parts about the whole package because it’s so easy to modulate the throttle without the factor of boost, which in most cases will cause wheel-spin coming out of a turn.

Another strong point of the Z/28 that Harley makes light of is the carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes – add in some Pirelli P-Zero Super Trofeo R tires and you have the perfect recipe for whiplash. “It’s unbelievable how much heat they can absorb!” exclaims Harley. The brakes really are one of the car’s key factors of its handling – they don’t fade after heavy use, they reduce unsprung weight, and they have incredible stopping power for modulating speeds when entering a turn. Co-developed with the Corvette engineering team, these carbon-ceramic brakes will also be used on the new C7 Z06.

“That look of astonishment on my face isn’t because I just saw a ghost, it’s because this little Z/28 just blew me away,” stated Harley after he stepped out of the car. He feels that the Z/28 is the best track car available for under $100k, but it isn’t perfect. Harley states that the seats could be better and that he’s not completely sold on the Camaro’s styling, but that’s completely alright. If every car was perfect, what would there be to modify? Hopefully we can get our grubby little paws on one in the near future so we can give our own first-hand impressions!